What the Papers Say, July 17, 2013

Kommersant

1. Article attributed to the political section headlined "School book maneuvers" says State Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin has tried to resolve the dispute over a new single history school book while visiting Kazan. Local scientists note that Russia and Tatarstan have different views on their history; pp 1-2 (813 words).

2. Viktor Khamrayev article headlined "Good elections being made for Muscovites" says the Moscow mayoral election is likely to turn into a real political competition as representatives of opposition parties will take part in the voting. Experts predict that acting mayor Sergei Sobyanin will be elected new head of the city; pp 1, 3 (783 words).

3. Yelena Chernenko et al. report headlined "Viktor Yanukovych tested for dissuadability" says President Putin who is to visit Kiev to take part in the celebration of the 1025th anniversary of the Orthodox Church in Kiev is expected to meet Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to try to talk him out of the European integration plans; pp 1, 6 (775 words).

4. Vladislav Novyy article headlined "Rostelecom starts living in accordance with its means" says Rostelecom communications company is to make 36 percent less in 2013 than previously expected. The company is getting ready for budget cuts; pp 1, 9 (619 words).

5. Article by former Finance Minister and present chairman of the Civil Initiatives Committee Alexei Kudrin in column headlined "Rules of game" criticizes the current fiscal policy, whereby defense spending grows while the state allocates less money for education and healthcare; p 2 (625 words).

6. Maxim Ivanov and Musa Muradov article headlined "Indirect elections not in demand" says the Communist Party and the Liberal Democratic Party may boycott the nomination of their candidates for regional heads in the North Caucasus republics, Dagestan and Ingushetia, where direct elections will not be held; p 3 (479 words).

7. Grigory Tumanov article headlined "Memorial gets agents' discount" says Memorial NGO has managed to defend in court its right not to get registered as a foreign agent; p 4 (479 words).

8. Galina Dudina interview with Italian consul general in Moscow Gabriele Papadia de Bottini speaking on visa policy towards Russians; p 6 (441 words).

9. Sergei Strokan article headlined "New sanctions promised to new Iranian president" says the U.S. and Israel have not changed their tough rhetoric towards Iran despite the election of new president; p 6 (536 words).

10. Olga Kuznetsova article headlined "Emirates risk 300Bln dollars" says the United Arab Emirates have deported around 500 Iranians to prevent Shi'a Muslims from spreading their influence in the country. The Emirates have put some $300 billion of Iranian investments at risk; p 6 (453 words).

11. Mikhail Serov and Anatoly Dzhumaylo article headlined "Sakhalin not to bear two" says Gazprom and Rosneft state controlled companies, planning to build news gas plants in the Far East, cannot divide sources of raw minerals; pp 7, 9 (694 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Svetlana Gamova article headlined "Romanian army advances to Dniestr" says a group of Moldovan deputies want to appeal to the Constitutional Court against the military cooperation agreement between Moldova and Romania which in fact gave access to the Romanian armed forces to the Moldovan territory; pp 1, 6 (713 words).

2. Ivan Rodin article headlined "Senators fail to filter dubious bills" says the Federation Council, which at first backed a controversial bill banning men who did not do military service to work as officials, later found out that the bill contradicts the Russian constitution; pp 1, 3 (996 words).

3. Igor Naumov article headlined "Russia digests migrants badly" says that with the existing quota of 2 million people, three times as many migrants are working in Russia now. Businesses complain about ineffective work of the Federal Migration Service; pp 1, 4 (786 words).

4. Anastasia Bashkatova article headline "People see dirty trick in yet another pension reform" says a recent public opinion poll which the Labor Ministry uses to prove that Russians support the planned pension reform did not take into consideration the fact that most people did not know the details of the reform; pp 1, 4 (875 words).

5. Tatyana Ivzhenko and Yury Roks article headlined "Hizb ut-Tahrir masters Crimea" says the Ukrainian authorities have asked the Crimean-Tatar diaspora living abroad to provide financial support to Crimea. Local people are worried that the "support" will help extremist Islamic groups take root in the region; pp 1, 6 (1,221 words).

6. Yevgenia Novikova article headlined "America afraid of losing Middle East" says U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is visiting Qatar for the sixth time since March 2013 in an attempt to keep U.S. influence in the Middle East; pp 1, 7 (753 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Test with Snowden" says U.S. whistle-blower has created problems both for the U.S. and Russian presidents and Snowden's stay in Moscow is unlikely to ruin Russian-U.S. relations; p 2 (540 words).

8. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "Every fifth wants to leave" says results of surveys carried out by two Russian pollsters, LevadaCenter and Public Opinion Foundation (FOM), show that one in four or five Russians wants to leave the country; p 3 (600 words).

9. Pundit Nikolay Tebin article headlined "Japan ahead of finishing election marathon" says it is expected that Liberal Democrats will regain power as a result of the upcoming parliamentary election in Japan; p 5 (2,000 words).

10. Natalya Korolenko article headlined "British parliament encroaches on royal finances" says Prince Charles is suspected of tax evasion; p 7 (654 words).

Vedomosti

1. Svetlana Bocharova article headlined "Banks to be able to monitor debtors in database" says the government is going to make the database which controls the migration of Russians. Banks are likely to get access to the database; pp 1-2 (650 words).

2. Yelena Khodyakova article headlined "Gazprom lacks pipes" says Gazprom is going to begin the construction of a gas pipeline to China without having a gas supply contract with Beijing; pp 1, 12 (601 words).

3. Editorial headlined "Non-public laughter" says the Russian legislation often makes people laugh and irony is becoming a political tool in the country; pp 1, 6 (430 words).

4. Polina Khimshiashvili article headlined "Russia for Snowden" says U.S. whistle-blower Edward Snowden applied for temporary asylum in Russia on 16 July and that, according to pundits and politicians, granting him this status should boost Russia's image abroad; p 3 (300 words).

5. Another editorial headlined "Technical mortgage" calls on the Russian authorities to reduce housing costs in the country to allow more people to buy flats on mortgage; p 6 (339 words).

6. Maria Zheleznova article headlined "Fine filter" looks at results of research done election monitor Golos, which says that all Moscow mayoral candidates, including the Communist nominee, had to secure signatures of deputies from the ruling party United Russia in order to pass the so called municipal filter; p 3 (400 words).

7. Article by Jessica Mathews, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, headlined "Foreign policy: Obama's uncertainty" criticizes U.S. President Barack Obama's foreign policy on Syria and Iran; p 6 (784 words).

8. Filipp Sterkin and Margarita Papchenkova article headlined "What Russia is ill with" says experts of the Higher School of Economics development center warn that Russia is suffering from the so called Dutch disease, whereby development of manufacturing lags behind exploitation of natural resources and the service sector; p 4 (450 words).

IzvestiaRossiiskaya GazetaMoskovsky KomsomoletsNoviye Izvestia

1. Dmitry Yevstifeyev article headlined "Gazprom top manager suspected of money extortion" says Gazprom top manager Andrei Goncharenko and his subordinates are suspected of extorting 3 billion rubles (around $90 million) from construction companies working for the gas giant; pp 1, 4 (707 words).

2. Svetlana Subbotina and Yekaterina Panina article headlined "Supreme Court and Supreme Arbitration Court to be merged by late November" says the State Duma expects to pass the law on merger of the Supreme Court and Supreme Arbitration Court by November; pp 1, 4 (614 words).

3. Anna Akhmadiyeva et al. report headlined "LDPR to launch its own TV channel" says the LDPR will first launch its internet-based TV channel and later turn it into a cable channel; pp 1, 4 (532 words).

4. Anton Mardasov article headlined "Prokhorov party has problems with law again" says searches have been held in the office of Dmitry Siganov, candidate of billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov's Civil Platform party to the Ivanovo Region duma; p 2 (491 words).

5. Alexander Yunashev article headlined "Putin criticizes Far Easters leadership again" says President Putin visiting Transbaikal Territory and Sakhalin has criticized the local authorities for the failure to implement economic development plans; p 2 (559 words).

6. Vladimir Zykov and Ivan Cheberko article headlined "The Guardian cedes internet domain to Glonass operator" says that British newspaper The Guardian has given up the internet domain name .gdn. The Russian company operating Glonass space navigation network, that also applied for the domain, will now be able to get it; p 2 (450 words).

1. Yelena Domcheva et al. report headlined "August as foreboding" looks into possible economic problems of the EU, U.S. and China and their effect on the Russian economy; pp 1, 3 (600 words).

2. Sergei Toporkov article headlined "Tanks, money and Orlan" reports on President Putin's visit to the Far East to watch the military exercise on Sakhalin island; p 2 (800 words).

1. Natalya Rozhkova interview with opposition activist and Moscow mayoral hopeful Alexei Navalny who speaks on his trial in Kirov and on Moscow mayoral election; pp 1, 4 (2,588 words).

2. Alexander Minkin article headlined "National interrogation" criticizes the management of Russian State Medical University for asking school leavers willing to enter the university about their nationality; pp 1-2 (688 words).

1. Yulia Savina article headlined "Candidates' law" says opposition activist Alexei Navalny may be registered as Moscow mayoral candidate but his registration is likely to be cancelled due to an expected guilty verdict in his case; pp 1-2 (821 words).

2. Diana Yevdokimova interview with Vsevolod Bogdanov, chairman of the Russian Union of Journalists, who criticizes amendments to the law on media drafted by the State Duma; pp 1, 5 (1,142 words).

3. Olga Goncharova article headlined "'Particular indignation'" says human rights organization Memorial has urged Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika, who said that the NGO misappropriated foreign grants, to deny the claim; pp 1, 5 (300 words).

Argumenty i Fakty

1. Valery Korovin commentary headlined "Is Snowden worse than Depardieu?" urges Russian authorities to issue U.S. whistle-blower Edward Snowden a Russian passport and give him citizenship; p 5 (400 words).

RBC Daily

1. Yulia Sinyayeva article headlined "'Dear friends, will you get down to work or not?'" says Putin has criticized the government over problems in Sakhalin Region; p 3 (500 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Ivan Grachev article headlined "'Dear friends, will you get down to work or not?'" says Putin has criticized the government over problems in Sakhalin Region; p 2 (500 words).

2. Boris Andreyev article headlined "Snowden: To Russia with love" says U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has officially asked Russia for asylum; p 4 (300 words).

3. Andrei Sitkov article headlined "Investments in Far East oil to increase" describes ambitious projects of oil giant Rosneft for Sakhalin Region; p 7 (700 words).

Novaya Gazeta

1. Yevgeny Feldman article headlined "39:4" reviews the case of opposition politician Alexei Navalny, whose verdict will be pronounced tomorrow; pp 2-3 (700 words).

2. Yulia Latynina article headlined "Snowden paradox" says U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has escaped "the Big Brother to be caught by the Very Big Brother, who is also corrupt"; p 7 (400 words).

Moskovskiye Novosti

1. Alexandra Ilyina article headlined "Ballot stuffing unlikely" is an interview with expert of the Golos election monitoring movement Grigory Melkonyants about the upcoming election of Moscow mayor; pp 4-5 (1,100 words).